The World's 18 Strangest Factories

Factories don't have to be huge, ominous gray buildings pouring smoke into the sky—this is an image of a late 19th-century factory, and it's hardly the norm in modern-day design. Companies around the world are focused on integrating "concerns for the inhabitants, surroundings, sustainability, and the overall corporeal imagery" into their buildings, says Diane Lewis, a practicing architect and professor in Cooper Union's architecture school. Cutting-edge industrial buildings no longer stick to one idea or design strategy, Lewis says, and our list proves just that. Here is a collection of the world's most innovative and interesting factories.

Bang & Olufsen

Bang & Olufsen

Location: Struer, Denmark

Background: After building their first product in an attic in 1925, Peter Bang & Svend Olufsen built their first factory in Struer, Denmark two years later. Though the buildings have seen many renovations and expansions, most notably after being burned down by the Germans in World War II, the factory and headquarters remain there today. The most recent addition is the new headquarters building designed by Jan Søndergaard of KHR Architects and completed in 1998.

Why It's Unique: The headquarters building is intended to mimic Bang & Olufsen's products in terms of contrasts between lightness and heaviness, translucency and transparency. It also houses world's largest private electro-acoustic measurement facility, which includes a mock living room in which audio tests are performed.

Cristalchile

Cristalchile

Location: Llay-Llay, Chile

Background: This glass bottle company chose to station their factory in the town of Llay-Llay (which means "wind-wind" in the Mapuche language native to the area), Chile, 53 miles north of Santiago. Guillermo Hevia, well known for his focus on sustainable factory design, was the lead architect on the project.

Why It's Unique: Cristalchile uses bioclimatic technologies, but is also designed for optimal natural ventilation using the area's strong winds and the holes in the glass facades and openings built into the undulating shape of the roof.